A vase of spring flowers can really brighten your day and are the perfect gift for Mother's Day. Hand-delivered bouquets from florists can be quite expensive but you can pick up a brightly-coloured bunch of tulips for just a few pounds from the supermarket.
But are all supermarket flowers equal? I decided to put them to the test. I went to five supermarkets - Tesco, , Aldi, Sainsbury's and Morrisons - and bought the cheapest bunches of flowers I could find that weren't daffodils. In all cases, this was tulips, with prices starting from just £2.25, making them ideal for kids to buy with their pocket money.
None came with flower food and all had much the same care instructions, which was to cut two to three cm from each of the stems and remove the leaves below the water level then place them into a clean vase filled with water in a cool place, away from direct sunlight. I kept them together, in the same room, so they weren't affected by different light, trimmed them around three days in and refreshed the water regularly. This is what I found.
Sainsbury's Tulips
Sainsbury's Tulips cost £3 for seven stems, which works out to 43p each. When I bought them, they were mostly in bud with some of them just starting to bloom. It meant they looked good enough to give as a gift, happy in the knowledge they were likely to last a decent amount of time. The 'display until' date was four days from my date of purchase and then it said they should last for five days.
You could see from the buds that these flowers would be a lovely combination of sunny yellow and warm orange. These flowers stood up well and took several days to fully bloom, looking just as pretty in bud as fully flowered.
They maintained a good shape throughout, standing tall and proud, and there was a lovely mix of colour, with the flowers still looking good as new an amazing 14 days later! By this time, this bunch was the only one not to shed a single petal. I gave them 5 out of 5 stars.
Aldi Tulips
Aldi Tulips cost £2.49 for seven flowers, which works out to 36p each. They were slightly more in bloom than the Sainsbury's ones because the best before date was just two days after my purchase. They were also said to be guaranteed for five days.
They were a regal purple colour in bloom and pretty striking to look at. Again, I'd be happy to give them as a gift. They stayed a vibrant colour throughout and remained upright.
They lasted well for a full nine days, after which the leaves began to turn yellow. The petals started to drop a couple of days later. I gave them 4 out of 5 stars.
Tesco Tulips
Tesco Tulips cost £2.25 for eight stems, which works out to 28p each. They had just two days until the sell-by date and they were already starting to open. They are said to have a five day 'freshness guarantee'.
These red tulips had a slightly mottled tinge to the petals. All of the tulips in the buckets at Tesco were the same on the day I bought them. It meant I wouldn't feel comfortable giving them as a gift. I hoped this would disappear as the flowers bloomed but unfortunately this wasn't the case.
The flowers barely opened, they just looked tatty and bedraggled all the way through with the stems drooping after a couple of days in the vase. They began to lose their petals after around nine days but they still hadn't really opened by this point. Whilst they were the cheapest, I didn't feel they offered good value for money at all and gave them 1 out of 5 stars.
M&S Tulips
cost £3.50 for eight flowers, making them the most expensive of all the bunches at 44p each. They had three days left until the 'display until' date and it said they had a five day freshness guarantee.
They were starting to bloom by the time I got them home. They were a really delicate ivory colour with pink tips, making them a gorgeous gift. I looked forward to seeing what they would be like in bloom.
Not surprisingly, these were the first flowers to open and they opened much wider than some of the others, no longer retaining the classic bell shape. They became more pink as they bloomed. Unfortunately, these were the first flowers to lose their petals - and they seemed to all fall overnight, leaving the stems pretty bare on day seven. I gave them 2 out of 5 stars.
Morrisons Tulips
Morrisons Tulips cost £3 for eight flowers, which works out to 38p each. They had two days left until the best before date and they were said to last a minimum of five days. These flowers were still in bud and they looked really fresh and vibrant, a lovely poppy red colour.
The leaves were the brightest green, making them look the healthiest of all the bunches. The stems were a little bent - they all were the same in the bucket in the supermarket - but they soon straightened up in the vase.
These flowers had a lovely bell shape, standing tall and erect throughout. They remained fresh, opening beautifully, and the leaves remained great, right through to day eight when they first started to lose a couple of petals. I gave them 4 out of 5 stars.
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Overall verdict
There was a clear winner here. The Sainsbury's tulips were a good price point, looked beautiful to give as a gift straight away and just got better and better. As I write this, on day 14, they are still going strong. This was keeping them in the kitchen too, where they were subject to steam. Great value for money - well done Sainsbury's!
